From Redline Media, photo courtesy of Gary Reid
No, we are not talking about a fishing trip. Last Saturday night at Tyrepower Parramatta City Raceway (TPCR) James Thompson was eight laps away from taking out his maiden TPCR feature race only to have his winning hopes dashed.
Thompson, who had started from pole position, bolted to a runaway lead and looked set to take the victory honours but on lap 22 of 30 that run was destroyed when he tagged a lapped car, who had just spun out between turns three and four. The impact resulted in Thompson flipping over and consequently caused race ending damage to the NSW # 22 Hills Motorcycles supported Maxim.
“I guess it just wasn’t to be,” remarked a disappointed Thompson, who had earlier in the night time trialled 12th and finished his two heat races in fifth and fourth place. “Up until that incident I was passing lapped cars like there was no tomorrow, as I knew I had to put as many lapped cars between me and my rivals as possible. When the lapped car spun I initially thought that I had got through but just as I thought that I tagged him and flipped over.”
Looking back on how the night turned out Thompson reflected on the positives more so than the negatives.
“I could dwell on it and be bitter about it but I’d much rather come back out next weekend and have another go,” he enthused. “I feel that I have made another step forward with my driving as I proved that I could be aggressive and that is something that has held me back in the past. In order to contend for wins you need to be as aggressive as possible, especially in lapped traffic, and now that I know I can do that I feel that other chances at chasing victory will come around.”
The focus for Thompson in the 09/10 season is to contend for podium finishes and not the overall TPCR Track Championship.
“I don’t plan to focus on the points chase as I’d much rather chase podium finishes,” said Thompson, who finished fifth overall in last season’s TPCR Track Championship point standings. “If you are playing the points game it forces you to be a bit more conservative and since I am after podium finishes I am just going to throw caution to the wind and see how far it gets me.”
Thompson returns to TPCR this Saturday night (November 7) for the third round of the TPCR Track Championship.
Thompson is proudly supported in the 2009/10 season by: Hills Motorcycles – www.hillsmotorcycles.com.au, Suzuki – www.suzuki.com.au, Thompson & Associates and Stahlwille – www.stahlwille.com